Pandas, Tigers, and Ice Cream--Oh my!

With the awkwardness of meeting new people over, Summer JAM began it's second week under the theme Jews as Global Citizens. Refreshed, but sore from Sunday's tubing (oy vey Corinne and Laura, those are some war scars to be proud of!), we set off as old and close friends to our individual service projects. My class (Ethics of War and Peace) headed to the National Zoo to meet the students from the Arlington Refugee Center for a scavenger hunt. We bonded over pandas, tigers, and ice cream. Additionally, we learned how to say the names of the different animals in each of our native languages. It's amazing how similar Hebrew was to the children's native languages! BTW, if you ever go to the zoo, Mactus of Ethopia highly recommends the Reptile House and Thomaj from Somlia recommends the elephants.

After the zoo, the Ethics class headed down to the nonpartisan, federally funded organization, The United Institute of Peace. We had a meaningful and intense session with Mr. Jeffrey Helsing discussing the many complexities of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and we role played the different faces involved in the issue, it was a learning experience for all.

During free time, some JAMers chose to tour Georgetown University, while others explored the culinary delights of DC! Rachel highly recommends Michael Moore's Sicko. But to top this wonderful day was the inspirational Ruth Messinger, President of American Jewish World Service. She told us that any of us could make a difference in the world, no matter how big it is. Together, bonded in every sense, we all knew that we could too.

Peace Out,
Ilana
Hollywood, FL
JAMer '07